32 inmates die in Ikoyi, Kirikiri prisons

Inability to access funds for proper medication killed 32 prisoners in one year, Lagos State Controller of Prisons, Olumide Tinuoye, said yesterday.

He told the visiting Prerogative of Mercy Committee led by the Commissioner for Justice and Attorney-General, Mr Adeniji Kazeem, that the prison officials at times bought drugs for some of the inmates. Others he said, lived on the philanthropy of churches and mosques.

According to Tinuoye, a female inmate died last month after being on dialysis for over two years.

He said 7,714 inmates were in prisons across the state. Giving a breakdown, he said 6,047 were awaiting trial, 1,390 convicted, 202 condemned and 75 serving life sentences.

He said Ikoyi prisons with a capacity of 800 now has 2,508 inmates, with 461 of them convicted and 2,047 awaiting trial. Kirikiri Medium prisons with a capacity of 1,700 has 2,979 inmates, with 2,634 awaiting trial and 345 convicted.

Speaking with reporters, Kazeem said there was hope for the inmates as the government has raised a committee headed by the Director, Office of the Public Defender (OPD), Mrs Bukola Salami to review the cases of awaiting trials. This he said, was to ensure that the inmates did not remain in prison unjustly or die in the process of waiting.

Kazeem said he had taken note of the drug situation in the prisons clinics, promising to seek the Ministry of Health’s support to provide drugs for ill inmates.

The commissioner urged the Federal Government to take more interest in the prisons and work out ways to help those who are ill.

“We don’t want to experience a prison break in Lagos. The prisons are supposed to reform inmates and not to make them want to break out on the account of ill-health,” he said.